RX350 or BMW X3?
#16
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Eastgurl, you're not truly comparing apples to apples here. BMW X3 is smaller, and is on par with Acura RDX.
Other than that, BMW is good if you dont need a lot of room, need something handling rather well, and plan on keeping this vehicle for duration of free maintenance, 4 yrs/50k mi.
Lexus RX is more stylish IMHO, and may offer more of a car for the money, but it is more relaxed cruiser, and not handling as well as BMW, but supposedly more reliable long-term.
Other than that, BMW is good if you dont need a lot of room, need something handling rather well, and plan on keeping this vehicle for duration of free maintenance, 4 yrs/50k mi.
Lexus RX is more stylish IMHO, and may offer more of a car for the money, but it is more relaxed cruiser, and not handling as well as BMW, but supposedly more reliable long-term.
Adding to the fact that I am looking for entry level luxury suv less than $45K OTD, it is also logical to crossshop the RX and X3 to me
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Last edited by SugarRush; 10-29-07 at 07:30 PM.
#17
Out of Warranty
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Note that on an RX, the first three big maintenance hits come at 15, 30, and 45K miles. In other words, your first two 5K visits to the dealer cost about $120, then you get to 15K and you get nailed for about $500 - then the cycle begins again. On that basis, your first 50K service is about $2500 - spread over 3-5 years. Now if you figure about a 50% markup on actual costs, the first 50K services cost the dealer about a grand. Lexus rebates a good part of the labor cost to them, so there is very little real cost in it, except for oil and filters. Most dealers will comp at least 30K of that service as a goodwill gesture, but it is not a corporate policy as it is at BMW.
Truthfully, as mandyfig noted, there's no such thing as a free lunch. That cost has to be covered somewhere - and you and I are paying for it in the sale price of the car. Same goes for that "free" coffee, juice, and soda - and all of the nice features in your Lexus dealer's waiting room, the comfy chairs, big-screen TV, etc. It gets rolled into "marketing" cost and you eventually pay for it at the checkout counter. I figure that "free" carwash I get whenever I visit the service center costs me about $90. Same thing with the "free" loaner car - the money to cover those costs to the dealer doesn't fall from the sky.
Now before you get too upset over this cost, go down and check out your neighborhood Chevy or Ford dealer. Service costs are seldom comp'ed, and while somewhat less expensive than Lexus, they are not cheap either. Waiting rooms are pretty old and nasty, filled with greasy car magazines and a pot of stale coffee that's been on the burner since last Tuesday. Your new car will probably be serviced by a mouth-breathing moron because warranty work is not a profit center for the dealership, so the least competent employees are assigned to it.
As we said before, there is no such thing as a free lunch.
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